Chinese Ditties

Excerpt from Chinese DittiesSince (about the beginning of the nineteenth century) the folk-lore and folk-songs of various lands. Have been seriously investigated, and folk-lore has become a science, a vast field of information has been disclosed, the full mean ing of which is; only now beginning to be generally appreciat ed. Thinkers now see, what. The earlier collectors perceived dimly if at all, that these tales and songs possess a very great value for the elucidation of the social history of man kind. T'hey furnish pictures of the past not otherwise to be seen. They help to keep alive customs and 1beliefs which, but for embodiment. In them, would have died out and' so have failed to record their testimony in the sociologist's note-hook. They prove the substantial uniformity of the working of the human mind under the same physical conditions all over the earth. The fundamental bases of popular thoughts and beliefs are everywhere the same. The particular development is the work of each particular lace.The particular branch of folk-lore found in China has been partially investigated by some able scholars, but the field is so vast as to be practically inexhaustible. Any small contribution to this gigantic work is therefore heartily to be welcomed. Recently, the excellent idea occurred to the editor of the official gazette of the Government University at Peking to ask the scholars to send to him the pepiular ditties current in their respective provinces or districts. Since these scholars hail from all parts of China a large and valuable collection was thus obtained. In the belief that they may be instruct ing and interesting to readers of the New China Review I propose to translate a portion of them, giving the Chinese text, and some notes where elucidation seems necessary. As a recreation from more laborious work it is pleasant to dip into the lighter kinds of Chinese literature, and if knowledge is to be gained at the same time the pleasure is doubly enhanced.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.